Tag, You're It!

Okay, so a friend of mine tagged me, in what I can only describe as a blogging chain letter. (Thank you Andrea!) I'm supposed to answer 6 questions about myself, then tag 6 people, posting their names here, and sending them messages on their blogs to let them know I've tagged them. They in turn answer the same 6 questions, and so on and so forth, alerting me when they've completed the task.

Question 1:

What are the 5 things on your To Do List?

1. Clean bathroom...bleh

2. Weed backyard...thanks to Roundup, that task is almost done!

3. Update the blog...with this post, I'm all caught up!

4. Balance check book

5. organize garage

Question 2:

Name 5 Snacks You Love

1. Homemade bread with homemade boysenberry jam...yum

2. Fruit

3. On rare occasions...this may gross some of you out...Little Debbie Oatmeal Cream Pies

4. Organic mozzarella string cheese

5. When I have them...Lindt Truffles, which I could eat all day till the cows come home...which is a big reason why I don't keep them in the house.

Question 3:

Name 5 Things You Would Do if you Suddenly Became a Millionaire

1. Pay off all debt, including house, vehicles, student loans

2. Travel

3. Buy a bigger house...cash

4. Invest it with the help of someone who knows what to invest in

5. Put money aside for my kids' educations and missions

Question 4:

Name 5 Places You Have Lived

1. Austin, Texas

2. Provo, Utah

3. Cedar City, Utah

4. Provo, Utah...I know this is a repeat, but I lived in 5 different places in the same city.

5. Round Rock, Texas

Question 5:

Name 5 Jobs You Have Had

This is a pretty sad list

1. Babysitter

2. Assistant Manager at Hot Dog on a Stick

3. Janitor

4. Food Server

5. Telemarketer

Question 6:

5 Things People Don't Know About Me

I think this is probably the hardest question of all, because as you all probably know, I can't keep a secret to save my life.

1. I have a fear of the unknown/unseeable...yeah, there's no way that's a word. This includes but is not limited to anything in the dark, and any body of water that isn't chlorinated. It doesn't mean I won't go swimming in lakes, rivers, or oceans...I'll just be secretly freaking out the whole time.

2. I like to eat dough...I usually try to do it on the sly so as to avoid grossing people out. Dough meaning bread dough, cookie dough, pie dough...you name it. It's not even like pie pastry or bread dough tastes that great...I know, I'm weird.

3. I like musicals. Old musicals...like Seven Brides for Seven Brothers and Thoroughly Modern Milly.

4. I hate scary movies. This one might surprise some of you, because before I had kids, I watched several scary movies...I can't stomach them now, though. I don't even like watching the previews for scary movies on TV.

5. I'm pregnant.

Okay, so not really, but I thought I'd try to freak some of you out, and well, it's been 8 months since the last one. I'm sure some of you expect that to be the reason we call when our name show up on your caller id. I really can't think of anything else.

Okay, so now I tag, Mom Valdivieso, Clarissa Wilstead, Kathleen Skinner, Catherine Valdivieso, Tammy Baird, and Alisha Morgan.

"I'm exercising"

I thought this was pretty funny today. Carly went into her drawer and pulled out an undershirt, or should I say "exercise shirt." She then asked me to put on the exercise video she's seen me do. She's a riot. She had the hand weights all ready for the cardio part of the workout. You go girl!

Library Days

We've already had a fun field trip since being home. We are now official library card holders. Woo hoo!! We went to the library yesterday with our neighbor friends Kesha and Chloe. The kids loved getting their hands stamped with dragon flies and dinosaurs, and then picking out their books. Of course, I helped pick out ones I thought they'd enjoy. They've already read about amphibians and tree frogs several times.

The library is in a great location down town...and just a block away from our favorite doughnut shop. So of course, doughnuts had to be a part of this excursion.

We had a great time, and I'm excited to get the kids started in the summer reading passport event. They just have to read 25 books, and then turn in their reading logs for prizes. I even signed myself up for the program...only 5 hours, and then I'll get a prize!!

Home Again, Home Again, Jigedy Jig

We had such a great time in California. We had so many fun adventures that filled our three weeks out there. The kids were excited to go home and see their Daddy. They were great on the airplane, with a little help from the new colors, and doodle pads they got for the trip home.

Say Cheese!!

V-Town

I had never heard that Visalia had a free trolley that took you down town, until Navarre and Catherine had a scavenger hunt over their open house weekend. I wasn't able to be there that weekend, and I couldn't believe that in the 6 years that I'd been visiting Visalia, I'd never ridden it. It was a must do in my mind.

You should have seen the big grin Carly had while we were riding the trolley. She couldn't stop smiling.

After our ride, we took a quick stroll of down town. There were lots of great shops, and in one antique shop window, we saw a porcelain pig for $3oo. Wowza.

Next Stop: Fresno Chaffe Zoo

Zoo days are the best. The kids love the zoo. We weren't sure about going this time, because the weather turned so hot, but we powered through anyhow. It turned out to be a great day. We took plenty of water, frozen and not, hats, sunscreen, and lunches. We were ready for anything...I even had extra clothes for all the kids in case anyone decided to vomit, wet their pants, etc. Of course, since I brought them, we ended up not needing the extras...don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining. Here we are at the start of our day. I didn't take a lot of pictures with my camera, and the cds we made at Costco of Elle's pictures aren't working on my computer...you'll just have to be satisfied with the few I took from Mama Tess' blog...I know our blogs are almost identical now!

There were a lot of great animals to see at the zoo. The kids always like to see the monkeys, tigers, and elephants. Those are probably Josh's favorite animals. He loves to makes their noises. We were lucky we went when we did, because they were also having a sting ray and shark exhibit, where we could touch them. Neat!
Josh was very brave and wanted to touch the sting rays very badly. Of course, in his efforts to get their attention by splashing, he was probably scaring them away. Carly didn't want to put her hands in the water. She said "they scare me." Touching sting rays isn't really my thing, but I wanted to show Carly that it wasn't scary. I was actually pretty proud of myself for doing it. They have a weird texture. Almost slimy.
The last time we went to the zoo with the Skinners in St. Louis, Carly wouldn't let Papa put her down when we were in the goat petting/feeding pen. This time she walked right in, pet a few goats, then grabbed a brush and started grooming one. Josh followed her lead and warmed right up to the animals. I think my dad is right though...they have creepy eyes.

Next, on to the Giraffes!!
I was pretty anxious for the kids to feed the Giraffes. Josh calls them Zebras for some reason. Probably just easier to say. You may wonder what he calls a Zebra. Those are Zebras, too. Josh fed the Giraffes first, and after his turn, I learned my lesson...don't give all the leaves at once, otherwise, they pull back too soon. Carly was pretty impressed with their long tongues. When she talks about it, she stretches her neck really long, and sticks out her tongue as far as it'll go.

There was also a great bird show at the zoo. There were several different species of birds, and they flew in and around us, sometimes literally right next to us. The kids liked the talking parrots the best. The trainers had them singing songs, and laughing. It was great.

I was feeling pretty brave, and so when they asked for a volunteer to participate in the show, my hand shot up. The trainer had me sit on a stool, and get my camera ready for a great shot...a large horned owl was going fly right at me and land just above my head. As luck would have it, right when I was supposed to take the picture, Elle's camera shut off.


The trainer gladly took this picture with the owl right behind me. It was quite the experience. The owl moved so silently.

It was such a great day, and a wonderful culmination of our time in California.

A Fun Uncle

Uncle Emmerson entertained the kids one evening by helping them play with the boxes left over from the many toys bought prior to their coming. The kids really loved all the quality time with Emmerson and Elle. Unfortunately, Emm was a little too sore to play with the kids a lot, because he had surgery the first Monday we were there.